History - USA

USA - History

Boom!

During the 1920s there was a prolonged boom in the American economy. Industrial production doubled, the economy grew rapidly and fortunes were made. Life had never seemed better for the majority of the American people. The boom developed for a number of reasons.

WW1:

The European economies were exhausted by the cost of waging a long war. In comparison, the USA grew rich during the war years. Its late arrival to the war, and the fact that its cities and industries were not bombed or destroyed during the conflict, meant that at the end of the war it was able to capitalise on the perilous state of European industry and dominate their markets

New technologies

The first 20 years of the twentieth century saw huge technological advances in industry. Factories became automated. Machines and other improved manufacturing techniques meant that huge amounts of goods could be made at a fraction of the cost. The age of mass production had arrived. In the decade of the 1920s economic output increased by a staggering 50%.